Road Trip: Philadelphia Zoo

Today, we visited the original American institution that began the spread of state and regional zoos across the country. America's first zoo was located in Philadelphia as a wildlife refuge and zoological garden. The kids were a bit leery at first as our NC Zoo is vast and takes quite a bit of stamina, which is wonderful for the animals, but can be very tiring for the humans who want to visit them.

I loved seeing new and unique animals that aren't in our local zoo, including the fruit bat, which was Finn's favorite animal to see today. Those bats are huge! Most of the bats we've ever seen are so much smaller, and it was wonderful to see bats that you could really get a good glimpse of what they look like.

The prairie dogs were a new zoo feature for us too, and they are such cuties popping in and out of their holes and dugouts.

We were also fortunate (and grateful!) that my sister-in-law has a membership to the zoo which enabled us to do many of the activities that the park charges extra for, including the carousel.

My nephew, Aiden, was very excited that his favorite zoo animal, the cheetah, was free for the riding, while Aren was content to sit on the frog next to him.

The kids scored the caboose on the train ride, which thrilled them to no end.

After a break for a picnic lunch,

we stopped by the Children's Zoo, which has many animals for petting and feeding.

I love how interactive this section was for the kids with the pony rides

and animal brushing. The animals were so sweet and docile and all of our kids thoroughly enjoy getting so up close and personal with them.

Then we were off to see Aren's favorites, the lions, and other African animals. I couldn't believe the length of the horns on some of the gazelles!

And it was fun to see the baby giraffe bending down to eat grass. You always read about how they spread their front legs to bend their necks to the ground, but you rarely get to see that in person.

We meandered our way through the rest of the zoo.

We saw Elizabeth's favorites, the flamingos and the spider monkeys.

Then we headed home with tuckered out kiddos who took very good afternoon naps! We thoroughly enjoyed our time at the Philadelphia Zoo. It almost makes me want to visit more zoos to find other animals to observe that are new to us.

Road Trip: Philadelphia suburbs

Elizabeth, Finn and I made our way further north this weekend to visit with my brother's family. The last few days have been low key (due to some sickness and general resting needed) but we did take a few minutes to visit a nearby farm. I love how many suburban farms there are in this area! It's easy to forget that a major city is a stone's throw away.

We attempted to pick some strawberries, but the fact that strawberry season is nearing it's completion in this area coupled with trying to pick at the tail end of the weekend did not make for successful strawberry picking.

We did get to admire some cute farm animals.

A sweet daddy-son embrace.

And the farm's you-pick Zinnia season is now underway. I've never seen a you-pick farm for flowers. What a fun concept!

Random water lily in the farm pond that I couldn't resist photographing.

Today we largely stuck to the area around the house to accomodate Finn's return to health.

(He looks just fine now, don't you think?)

Fortunately there is a park for playing with cousins directly across the street from my brother's house.

(And letting big sister/cousin drag you around in the wagon.)

I'm so grateful for this time to spend with my family and watch these cousins enjoy each other.

Road Trip: pirating on Chesapeake Bay

On the last evening of our time in the Chesapeake Bay, we found a delightful area of the bay that not only allowed pirating, but encouraged the endeavor, providing outfits, moustaches, scars and tattoos for the adventure.

Finn transformed into a fearsome pirate, named Fearless Finn, complete with every pirate accoutrement possible.

Eagle Eye Elizabeth, being a less enthusiastic and more proper 10-year-old pirate, only received a scar with stitches.

Notorious Naia, on the other hand, came in full garb with her most intimidating pirate expression. (And apparently she's good at finding a treasure chest 6x her size.)

After the pirates dressed and applied tattoos, they listened to their pirate captain for instructions on their pirate mission.

Mission in hand, the pirates were loaded on the ship, and they raised their pirate flag to warn other ships of their arrival.

They practiced dropping to the deck in the event another pirate ship passed by.

And they brought along a map of a treasure buried at sea.

Fearless Finn enjoyed the pirating, but he also took a few minutes to admire the beautiful sailboats skimming nearby.

When a pirate bandit carrying the key to the buried treasure chest tried to overtake them, the pirates sprayed him with a water cannons and managed to get him to give up his key.

Fearless Finn discovered the key on the deck but was a little apprehensive to retrieve the package. (He's clearly been tricked by clever pirates before!)

After following the clues on the map, they finally discovered the treasure chest and hoisted it aboard.

Fearless Finn was highly impressed by his golden gem bounty!

The pirates were kind enough to pose for a picture after completing their mission. (You'll find not only my imposing pirate, but Zig-Zag Zach and some new pirate friends we made in the Chesapeake area.)

After another night and a few more hours searching the bay with nets, we headed north again.

Thanks to our friends in the Chesapeake area for sharing their boat and showing us the bay!

Road Trip: Chesapeake Bay

Elizabeth and Finn spent the last couple of days being boat kids. Cindy, of Zach Aboard, was kind enough to invite us to stay on her family's boat for a few days as part of our road trip and we jumped at the chance to experience boat life for a bit.

Elizabeth, especially, immediately adapted to living aboard, climbing, exploring, breathing the salty air.

Finn, on the other hand, was determined to give me a heart attack. But he has enjoyed his time as well.

The next few photos are some of our experiences with Zach and Naia and living aboard (and enjoying the marina pool, of course!)

We also spent some time exploring the nearby sights, including historic London Town.

Finn and I wandered the grounds and gardens of London Town.

And Elizabeth and Zach attended a short class (in the miserable heat, no less) on 18th century medicine.

London Town, an important tobacco port in the late 1800s, is now part horticulture, part archaeological excavation and a fascinating little place to spend a few hours.

Finn tried to pull an old wheelbarrow.

And we found so much wildlife, butterflies, bees, squirrels and birds, frolicking the gardens with us.

{this moment} - Road Trip: the dock children

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo (or 2) - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. See Soulemama to play along.